1,000 new units will give Houston homeless a fresh start

Mayor announces program that also includes support services

Updated 10:32 pm, Wednesday, November 21, 2012

Photo: Melissa Phillip, Staff

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Johnnie Johnson, property manager at 2100 Memorial, on Wednesday shows Neal J. Radkleff, director of the city's Housing and Community Development Department, an example of the type of housing available under the new program.

Johnnie Johnson, property manager at 2100 Memorial, on Wednesday shows Neal J. Radkleff, director of the city's Housing and Community Development Department, an example of the type of housing available under

The plan will not see an increase in the number of rental vouchers the housing authority offers, but, rather, will target 1,000 of its existing vouchers to the homeless before drawing tenants from its general waiting list.

The plan also ties the 1,000 vouchers to housing units rather than to people. So-called "project-based vouchers" provide a steady revenue stream that helps developers obtain financing to build new housing, said Tory Gunsolley, housing authority president and CEO.

"The commitment to help the homeless get on their feet, become part of Houston's economic engine, is not a one-time thing," Parker said, adding that the announcement was fitting on the eve of a holiday about reflection and giving thanks. "We have lots and lots of folks on a waiting list for housing. But there's a difference between struggling in a not-very-nice apartment and (wanting) something better, and literally being homeless and not having any place to lay your head. It is a re-prioritization of some of these dollars."

Mayor's commitment

Parker, in her second inaugural address last January, committed to making progress on homelessness in her current term.

The housing authority operates separately from the city, but its board members are appointed by the mayor.

It is not clear when nonprofits providing services for the homeless, primarily individual case management, will have the capacity to support the residents of the coming 1,000 units, said Thao Costis, president and CEO of SEARCH Homeless Services. The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, which funds the voucher program, has stressed housing at the expense of support services in recent years, she said.

"We've been making incremental change over the past two decades, but today we need exceptional change, and for exceptional change to happen, it's got to bring the different sectors together," she said. "As a whole, the dollars aren't there. Not yet. It's going to take some time to ramp that up."

"The real problem is the overall shortage of housing assistance," he said, noting that the housing authority expected 125,000 people to apply for 20,000 waiting-list spots when it opened enrollment in August. "It's reasonable to think that you'd dedicate a portion of the vouchers to special-needs populations, such as the homeless, particularly if you were going to enrich that housing with services that were going to get people more stabilized. But for the program to be really work as it's outlined, it's really going to require that the funding for those types of services is present."

County considers idea

A request for proposals was issued Wednesday, Gunsolley said, so it is undetermined where the housing will be located or when new units would be built. If existing structures are chosen, he said, the first residents could get housing as early as February.

"Our hope is that it will generate some new housing specifically built for homeless, but we're open to other models," Gunsolley said.

Such efforts elsewhere, he said, have seen 100-unit or 15-unit buildings with built-in services for the homeless, or structures in which only a portion of units are set aside for the homeless. Some residents could stay in the units for the rest of their lives, Gunsolley said, and others could move out after one year, taking a mobile housing voucher with them and freeing up a unit for someone more in need.

The Harris County Housing Authority also is considering targeting some of its vouchers to the homeless. "Permanent supportive housing is the kind of housing most needed in the general Harris County-Houston region, and I think it's great to see the housing authority step forward in such a big way to commit these units in the fight to end homelessness," CEO Tom McCasland said.